Aguayuda, Inc.

Mission:
Aguayuda's mission is to improve life and health in rural communities through clean water and education. Results:
With the support of individual donors, foundations, international organizations, volunteers, and local community members, Aguayuda has, and still is, providing a range of sustainable water and sanitation solutions to more than 4,300 people in 14 rural communities.
Our environmentally friendly technical solutions include wells, windmills, solar pumps, rain harvesting systems, water filtration, wastewater treatment, water distribution systems, and composting latrines. We also organize and train local water and education committees in each community we served. The water committees ensure that the technical solutions are properly operated and maintained, while the education committees utilize educational manuals developed by Aguayuda to educate residents on health topics including water education, waste management, and proper hygiene and sanitation practices. Our manuals are designed and specifically tailored for the communities we serve (i.e. indigenous, low education, and sometimes illiterate); they consist of step by step guides with pictorial diagrams, illustrations, hands on exercises, and group activities. Target demographics:
Poor rural communities in developing countries. Geographic areas served:
Latin America with emphasis on Colombia

Community Reviews

We humans are dependent on water to live, thus our quality of life directly depends on the quality of water available to us. Therefore, by planning and implementing projects to provide clean water to poor communities in my home country Colombia, Aguayuda is indirectly improving my fellow Colombians’ health and well-being. Thanks Aguayuda!

When was your last experience with this nonprofit?

Aguayuda has successfully undertaken and implemented many efficient, effective, and sustainable solutions to help the people of Colombia and other developing countries gain access to clean water. They do this with very hard work, dedication, and the limited resources that I and other donors and volunteers have been able to contribute. They are a professional, hard working, and innovative non-profit, and I look forward to their continued success and solutions to the challenges of providing clean drinking water throughout the developing world.

When was your last experience with this nonprofit?

Aguayuda brings water to communities in need and also provides educational support to ensure these water resources are sustainable. I spent one week at the end of June 2010 combining my passion to help with my energy to discover. It was my first time volunteering onsite with Aguayuda and I had my doubts as to how much could be accomplished in my 5 ½ days in La Guajira, Colombia. I had been told that I would be busy but I didn’t know that meant I’d be able to witness the completion of 3 projects, work in 6 communities, collaborate with community members, local governments, multiple indigenous populations, schools, and other non-profit organizations.

After each full day, no matter how dusty we were or how many miles we had covered on back “roads,” Aguayuda’s leaders’ Sabrina & Simón, made it a point to cap each day off with a walk along the beach and a tall glass of fresh "jugo de Maracuya" (a type of passion fruit juice you just can’t find in the US). That to me was the balance of Aguayuda – a tremendous amount of diverse, hard work but always staying connected to what is special and important to life and to each community. Aguayuda’s network was vast and covered hundreds of miles but each community touched was different and had a unique issue with something special to offer. Everywhere we went children played and often helped as community members worked hand with their environment to create a sustainable future.

We did so much, but one of my favorite moments was in Ramonero as the sun was setting. We had made fixes to and cleaned a water storage tank, and were waiting for the cement to dry on structural changes made to a water basin for the community’s goats and pigs. I had a Frisbee with me and for about a half an hour I played Frisbee with the girls and boys and even a few older community members. It was obvious that this was the first time they had ever played Frisbee. We all smiled and laughed with the pride that we had done something good that day.

Thank you Aguayuda for giving me the opportunity to more than exceed my goals. My passion and energy combined in ways I never would have guessed. I look forward to volunteering for Aguayuda as often as I can in the future.